My husband and father love asparagus, especially pickled. That stuff is spendy, so I begged Meg for a recipe and got Dad to pick up some asparagus in Yakima. 42 pounds of it...
Ingredients
- Asparagus, fresh
- Mustard seed
- Dill seed
- 2 cloves peeled garlic per pint, or 4 per quart
- Crushed red pepper flakes
- Lots of ice water and extra ice
- White vinegar
- Water
- Rock Salt
- Cane Sugar
- Pickling Spice (remove the cloves)
- Alum
Peter Piper Picked a Peck
One batch of Brine will cover: 6 quarts of spears plus 1 quart of chunks, or pints to total that much.
Wash the asparagus, and chop the spears to fit the jars. Discard the woody parts near the end, and chop the rest of the asparagus (between the spears and the woody bits) into pieces. They pickle just as well as the spears, just don't look as cool.
Blanch the asparagus. Bring a pot of water to boil, preferably one with a collander insert like for cooking pasta. Plunge the asparagus into the boiling water and leave for one minute, remove from the boiling water and plunch immediately into ice water. Use lots of ice, and get it very cold immediately to retain the crisp. Remove the asparagus when completely cold, and allow to drain on clean towels until thoroughly dry.
In A Pickle
Wash and sterilize the jars. To each jar add:
1/2 teaspoon mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon dill seed
2 cloves peeled garlic per pint, or 4 cloves per quart
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
The Briny Deep
For one batch of brine, bring 5 cups water, 1/2 cup rock salt, 1/2 cup cane sugar, 1 Tablespoon pickling spice (remove cloves), and 1 teaspoon Alum to a boil in a large saucepan. Boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, add 5 cups vinegar, and cool.
Get Packin'
Pack the jars with asparagus. I usually pack spears point up. Be sure you have about 1/2" headspace between the top of the spears and the lids. You can just fill jars with asparagus chunks any old way.
Pour the cooled brine over the asparagus in the jars, covering the asparagus but leaving 1/2" of headspace. Process 5 minutes in a boiling water bath.
Notes and Hints and Stuff
- Vinegar Colors
The original recipe called for white vinegar only, but Meg and I both use 1/2 white vinegar and 1/2 cider vinegar. It just looks prettier.
- My Garlic is Blue
Yeah, that happens. It'll turn either blue or green sometimes in the pickling brine. It's harmless.
- Boiling Water What?
It's a canning method. See "Canning Tips and Tricks" for more information.
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